CROSSCANONBY ST JOHN'S C OF E SCHOOL - 'A little school with a big heart.'

Curriculum

Curriculum

The school uses the National Curriculum 2014 as a basis for all schemes of work. Curriculum overviews can be found on a separate page. Further details about each term’s work can be found in individual class teacher’s termly curriculum letters; these are sent out to parents at the start of each term.

At Crosscanonby St John's C of E primary we have designed our curriculum in a way that allows us to recognise our children’s prior learning and to maximise the opportunities within our local area in order to provide first hand learning experiences that allow our pupils to not only make progress academically, but to also develop life skills. We celebrate and welcome differences within our school community and aim to deliver a curriculum that allows pupils to become creative, critical thinkers, develop inter-personal skills, build resilience and  become life-long independent learners. All that we teach is underpinned by Fundamental British Values and our ‘Star Christian Values’.

We strive to provide all our pupils with the opportunity to succeed and to reach the highest level of personal achievement. We do this by:

  • Ensuring equality of access for all pupils and preparing them for life in a diverse society
  • Using materials that reflect the diversity of the school, population and local community without stereotyping
  • Promoting attitudes and values that challenge any discriminatory behaviour or prejudice
  • Providing opportunities for pupils to appreciate their own culture and celebrate the diversity of other cultures
  • Seeking to involve all parents in supporting their child’s education
  • Being inclusive and accepting of all

We regularly provide enhancement opportunities, in and out of school, to engage learners and to promote positive attitudes to learning. We strive to provide a stimulating environment, and a curriculum, that provides opportunities for children to be happy and engaged, provides new experiences and extends knowledge in ways that allows them to develop inquiring minds in order to investigate the world around them.

Children are given opportunities to contribute to their learning with ideas for research in some subjects. They chose our core Christian values for this year.

We hope that the impact of our curriculum will be seen not only in attainment and the acquisition of skills and knowledge, but also in the manner in which our pupils conduct themselves as they journey through life. We hope that our pupils leave us as tolerant, caring, confident and polite members of society who understand and respect everybody’s differences and are able to make decisions that will have a positive impact on their community. We celebrate achievements in all areas, not just academic, during our weekly Friday achievement assemblies.

During a normal week all classes cover the following subjects: Computing; Maths; English; History or Geography; Art or Design and Technology; PE; RE; Science; Music and a Modern Foreign Language in KS2. From January 2020 we re-introduced lessons in PSHE to cover new RSE requirements and we use Jigsaw as a basis for this.

Homework

 As the children progress through the school the amount of homework will increase.  We will try not to overload; we fully appreciate that they need time to relax too.  Where possible we try to make homework an activity that can be done with your child, particularly in the Early Years and KS1.

Please hear your child read as they may not always be heard regularly in school. Help your child to learn tables, go over them, then ask out of sequence or as a problem to check they really are known. By the end of Year 4 pupils should know all of the tables.

The school expects homework to be done on time unless a parent/carer has given sound reasons to the child’s teacher saying why this was not possible. 

Spellings

Spellings are given weekly from Yr 1 up and we ask that the children learn these in the following way: Look, Say, Cover, Write and Check, so that they cannot see the word as they write it down.

Religious Education

The newly formed (April 2023) Cumbrian Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE) provides us, as a Church of England school, with a new Agreed Syllabus. This is the legal document for the teaching of Religious Education (RE) in Community and Voluntary Controlled schools in Cumberland and Westmorland & Furness. We are currently working towards implementing the new Agreed Syllabus into our curriculum - we are in Year 1 of our 2-year rolling programme. This Agreed Syllabus will become statutory from September 2024 following a year of implementation from September 2023. This syllabus is the basis on which the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) will determine the effectiveness of our delivery of RE. It is the statutory framework which guides schools developing their curriculum for RE. It is the responsibility of each school to develop schemes of work at each statutory stage of education based on this syllabus. While this Agreed Syllabus builds on the enquiry-based approach advocated in the Cumbria Agreed Syllabus 2017, it establishes a disciplinary approach in RE for the first time. It aims to bring fresh and innovative thinking to RE by adopting many aspects of the Norfolk SACRE Agreed Syllabus This syllabus reflects developments in RE towards an education in religion and worldviews, offering challenge and depth for all our children. It embodies an approach that values lived experience and diversity within and between religious and belief traditions. This syllabus provides a curriculum with religious literacy at its heart and encourages children and young people to engage critically with the big questions in life. It prepares them both for life within our county, and also in the wider world, when they encounter a range of ideas and beliefs.

Our aims for the following of this syllabus are:

  • To know about and understand a range of religious and non-religious worldviews by learning to see these through theological, philosophical and human science lenses.
  • To express ideas and insights about the nature, significance and impact of religious and non-religious worldviews through a disciplinary approach.
  • To gain and deploy skills rooted in theology, philosophy and the human sciences engaging critically with religious and non-religious worldviews.
  • To be able to reflect on personal worldviews.
  • Our children's progress is assessed in relation to this purpose and these aims of RE.

It is a legal requirement that all children have access to knowledge of both Christian and other faiths. Parents have the right of withdrawal if they do not wish their children to participate. If children are withdrawn from either RE or collective worship, they would be supervised by a member of staff in a suitable activity. RE is taught once a week by class teachers.

Relationships, Health and Sex Education

The Governors’ policy on Sex Education in school is that this should be taught as part of the  Science curriculum. It will be treated in a sensitive, but factual way throughout the school.  Lessons will be appropriate to the age of the children being taught.

Parents of Y6 children will be invited into school to see how this area will be taught to their children.

A parent has the right to withdraw their child/children, from Sex education, except that which is part of the National Curriculum for science requirement.

There is no right to withdraw children from health or relationships education. From January 2020 relationships and health education have been taught as part of PSHE lessons. Our policy for this is available on our policy page.

 Educational Visits

We believe that taking children out of school to gain first hand experience is a valuable way of learning.  These may be taken at any time during the school year and are connected to the work the children are doing at the time.  Parental permission is obtained for any journey. A voluntary contribution towards such visits is usually requested. We take pupils in Years 5/6 on residential visits to an outdoor activity centre.

Involving Parents

In Nursery and Year Reception parents are able to view and comment on their child’s day to day progress and learning through Tapestry. To access this, please speak to Mrs Stephenson and she will provide the link and your own password.

All pupils in other classes use a web based learning platform called Purple Mash and pupils are able to access this at home using their own individual password and they can share their work with parents if they wish.

 

Full details about how we have designed our curriculum can be found by clicking on the  Our School Day and Our Curriculum link.

 

*PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINK TO VIEW OUR PROGRESSION MAPS FOR THE FOUNDATION SUBJECTS: 

https://crosscanonby-primary-school.schudio.com/admin/document_groups/view/41367